The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-02-20
SOMEOFINDIANA'SW WONDERS
Rich Beds of Kaolin of Various Col0rS
IN the Region of Harrison County.
-Natural-Gas Springs Along the Ohio
Ross Brownies Boyhood Home.


Professor Collett to Journal veporter "as
went down the Ohio on relief boat gave me an
opportunity to see the geological formation that
could not otherwise have obtained. At Madi
son the Lower Siluran covers the hills to q
depth of hundreds Of feet and passes out of
sight beneath the Ohio then comes the Upper
Siluran, then the Devonian rocks and black
ehale of the same age, and Immediately west of
New Albany the Knobs and stone tower up to a
height of $40 feet above the low-water mark
The sharp. concal knobs of this group of rocks,
west of New Albany and at Bridgeport. seem to
touch the clouds, and give wide and interest
ing view. At Bridgeport the sand rock was
quarried for the locks and canal around the Falls
of the Ohio at Louisville Although not the
best article of stone it is easily accessible. The
river here flows almost directly to the south. and
the high pinnacle at Bridgeport is a noted land
mark to pilots on tie river.
''At Glaze's Landing there occur beds of sand
similar to those in Floyd county, near New
Providence. At the latter place it is at or near
the horizon of the Knobstone shales. but at this
point it is found resting upon the limestone of
the Superior group and containing fossils OF
three different ages. These fossils indicate that
the deposit of kaolin here was subsequent to the
formation of the rocks themselves. The kaoln de-
posits connected with this sand equal to any
occurring elsewhere in the world. Captain
knight, who has worked these mines for eight
years, says that the pockets of kaolin are OF
frequent occurrence, varying from small beds OF
white to yellow, green and sometimes red. When
semi crystalline it is pale blue chalk white.
A few miles south. in the fat prairie area, is a
large extent of red, yellow and green kaolin in
persistent beds, two to three feet thick and if
freed from coloring matter is adapted to the
manufacture of ordinary pottery, terra Gotta and
tile products. On the Eversole farm, three
miles below Glazes Landing, in Harrison county,
the perpendicular bluffs. strongly ribbed with
Keokuk and St Louis limestone, closely ap-
proach the river. The lmmit of the cliff
is conical, with steep sides, by which
sudden changes of temperature are so modified
that subtropical plants formerly fourishei,
some of which still survive. Amid the profusion
of trees and plants which point to warmer
cline, the Southern cane (phrazmites COM
munis), which is generally confined to the river
bottoms, formerly covered this hill with q rank
growth from ten to fifteen feet high 1t was
here the horse thieves of 1910 and whereabouts
corralled their stolen property, the place afford
ing them hidden and almost inaccessible re-
treat. At the time of the New Madrid earth
quake in 1911, pioneer had built his cabin near
the foot of the cliff. A few years ago the woman
who occupied the cabin that dreadful night was
yet living She was the wife of the pioneer
and that night he was absent from home. Mas
sive blocks of limestone eight to twelve fee,
square, loosened by the tremor of the earth,
came rolling for five hundred feet, laundering
and crashing down the cliff. Many OF the larger
blocks, the work of that nights destruction, re-
main to this day.
"A mile below Eversole's Bluff near Rosebud
Landing. is one of the gas outcrops. All along
the Ohio river, for a space OF half mile OF
more whenever the water is not more than from
two to ten feet deep, bubbles may be seen hurry
ing upward and in time of low water, Capt. E.
knight SAYS in sufficient volume and force &c
give a rocking motion to a skif, and in some in
stances to overturn a rowboat. Near the edge
of the river it pushes itself through the muddy
deposit with restless motion. On the shore
lines small springs Of gas break out Confined
in a tube or clay chimney, the gas is often ig
nited. These jets burn night and day until ex
tingushed by wind storms or overflow. 1t hal
been likened to the ghebers' holy light In thu
sunworshipers' land of fire. 1t used to excite tn,
fears Of boatmen, who could only wonder at
hole on fire. as they called it. The trend of tn
flow is from southwest to northeast In time o
high water the ebultion of gas is noticed in tn
backwater on the overlooked lands. and is trace
by the gas we'll near BueLa Visit
in southwesterly direction acros
the country by Boones Landing to a simila
phenomenon in the bed of the river at Old Nor
vim Landing. The origin of this gas is probab
from the Genesee shale, aud in this locality bore
be unnecessary. AS tested, the flow is what
termed by Ohio scientists low pressure in dis
tnction from the high pressure wells at FIR,
mont Findlay and Lima, as also at Munce, H
md Mob 1lo IF tho latfo npdo
Harrison county the pressure of the flow has NJ
exceeded $50 to 200 pounds to the square incl
and the quantity in one well would not supply
village Of five hundred inhabitants Hence,
twenty, or fifty Of these along an are
OF one. or five, or ten miles, An
then steam. power might be REQUIRE
to pump and drive the gas with suffcier
ever be consumed on the spot for pottery an
tile kins, for drying fruit and other purpose
Mention was made in the Journal last week
the Harrison county meteorite that fell nea
Buena Vista. 1t was what Is termed a siderit
being partly composed of silica and clay
analysis it showed that the chemistry Of the st,
world from which it came included, as wei
iron, magnesia, aumina lime, soda, potas
manganese, phosphorus cobalt, copper ana 81
phur, in combination, however, that does n
and cannot exist in n state of nature in tn
world, where air and water are present.
''1he interior of Harrison county west
hoseouo T. ". anG north VI Iio DoStou, ehos
a gently unduating plateau, known as the fl
woods which is of great economic importanc
although its advantages have not been wroug
out The soil is a rich, black muck and, beiI
elevated from three hundred to five hundred fe
above the Ohio, is not subject to sudden chang
of temperature which destroy early and tend
fruits. 1t is the land for apples. grapes and smi
fruits. At Browns Landing the whole Keok,
group has passed below low water in the Obi
A short distance below low water the edges
the river were found covered with the heads a,
wel-feathered trailing stems Of crinoids a
other deep-sea animals OF the keokuk group.
the Great Bend, or extension Of the Ohio to t
south, reaching to Rock Haven, KY, and W
exhibited over on of over a thousand acr
at the Kintper Cedar farm p O., occur